[ale] does DUMP backup only the 'used' HD fraction, OR, the 'entire' HD, blank space and all ?

[Vernard Martin]

On 3/9/2012 2:13 PM, Bob Toxen wrote:
> Beware!
>
> Some versions of dump/restore fail to preserve directory permissions,
> instead creating all directories mode 777 on restore!
>
> I saw this about 5 years ago when Rackspace restored my client's backup
> following hard disk failure.  It was UGLY to recover from.
>
> I'd suggest either rsync or tar.
>
> Be sure to ALSO record inode to file names.  This is critical in case of
> file system damage so that when fsck reports inode ### as damaged you
> know which file/dir to restore.
>
> I suggest something similar to the following just before one does
> backups so that /root/inode_list can be recovered from backup if
> necessary.
>
>    find / -ls>  /root/inode_list
>
Also check and verify that ACLs are not being used. IF they are, then 
you need to save/restore those as well. Rsync is nice and will do this 
for you but judicious use of getfacl/setfacl is sometime most efficacious.

V